Gribbs take The Netherlands...part II...

It had been 10 years since Andy and I had traveled overseas together so I was really excited for our visit to Amsterdam. The weather was perfect when we arrived - sunny and mid to high 40's - which compared to the 8 degree weather they were experiencing at home, felt tropical! It made for the perfect morning/early afternoon of walking around the city and taking in some of the sights - and of course some of the great food as well! 

Once our hotel room was ready we headed back to rest a bit. The hotel was different than where we stayed last year - and I loved it! Heated towel rack in the bathroom, bath robes, and really cool motivational wallpaper - what more could you ask for!?

After a little rest we heading back out for a really great dinner at an Italian restaurant that came highly recommended. We then capped it off with some fun after dinner drinks at the bar of the hotel we had stayed at last year - the bar tenders were super friendly and we had a good time hanging out and chatting with them - I also discovered an appreciation for gin and tonics - so that's new. 

The next day we had plans to go check out the Food Hallen - an old warehouse that they turned into this really cool indoor food truck type spot - with all kinds of really good "street food" options and of course beers, cocktails, etc. It was a pretty cool find which Andy gets credit for - gotta love TripAdvisor & Instagram for travel tips! 

We spent some time doing some shopping as well and picked up some souvenirs at the famous Flower Market. 

For dinner we turned once again to Instagram and TripAdvisor and wound up at the cutest little French bistro. The atmosphere was so charming and intimate with the staff really spending time chatting with you, offering suggestions, etc. It was just an amazing dining experience and the perfect way to end our visit to Amsterdam. 

Gribbs take The Netherlands...part I...

Ok ok, so this happened literally at the 1st of the year and I'm just getting around to writing about it - but better late than never!

So for the second year in a row I got to go over to our European offices for our sales meeting with our European crew. The difference in this year's trip was that Andy got to join me at the end of it - yay!

My part of the trip started with a New Year's Day flight to Amsterdam. Pretty uneventful travel experience and just like last year I met up with my fellow US colleague, Adrian, in Amsterdam and we took the train together out to Almelo for the business part of the trip. We got in a day earlier than every one else so it was nice to have a little down time as we adjusted to the time change. It was nice to have a little time to explore Almelo as well - a very walkable town with a lot of history.

The meeting part of the trip went really well. My European colleagues are just as passionate about what we do and they bring some fresh perspectives as well - so it's fun to spend some time in person with them. They are also crushing it - so it was fun to get to celebrate another consecutive year of sales growth with them. Not to mention our evenings were spent enjoying some great meals and camaraderie.

Of course the trip got all the better when Andy arrived! He had quite the epic day of travel as he had to fly from here to Newark and then Newark to Amsterdam - but he arrived and got to sneak in a nap while we were all still at the office. The guys all loved meeting Andy and he even got to participate in our team building "trivia night" which was a lot of fun. A bonus for both of us was getting to also see Desire who Andy got to know a few years ago when she was still working with me and came and stayed with us to work for a week. So fun having friends in different countries!

While we thoroughly enjoyed our time (a short amount for Andy) in Almelo we were really excited to get to Amsterdam - I couldn't wait to introduce Andy into this beautiful city....